Xbox720 To Be Announced May 21st, Out November Claims Tech Blogger

According to a well known Tech Blogger known as Paul Thurrott, word has it that the Xbox720 will be officially unveiled on May 21st, 2013 & will retail in November. It’s also rumoured that the device will simply be called ‘Xbox’ and it was originally intended to launch as two separate versions until one of them was scrapped. While speaking on the latest What the Tech Podcast, Thurrott stated some rather bold claims about Microsoft’s next-gen conosle, and that it’s not clear where exactly this information is coming from, so please do remain suspicious and take these rumours as a pinch of salt.

You’ll find that AGB has the full transcript of the chat, but we’ve hand-picked the best & most interesting parts and listed them below…

A “Non-Gaming” Xbox 720 Model?

“The next Xbox is code-named Durango. And we have talked for a while about this notion that there might be another version of the Xbox that was just aimed at entertainment—a non-gaming device. That device was code-named ‘Yumo’ and they’re not making it. They may make one in the future, but it’s not happening this year.”

Backwards Compatibility?

“I don’t actually know this for a fact, but based on the fact that they’re making one—I don’t think that the new Xbox will play 360 games. But that I don’t actually know, that I’m guessing.”

Your Thoughts On ‘Always Online’?

“so for me, Xbox 360 is almost entirely an online experience. Most of the games I play are multiplayer, where you’re playing against other people online. Or you’re using it as an entertainment device when you’re connected to a service like Netflix or Xbox video, so that is an internet-connected device. In this phrase, it says ‘must be internet-connected to use’, you know, that suggests that you can’t even boot into the UI and play—I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t have one.”

The Xbox 720 Price:

“Durango is going to be expensive [laughs], you know $500, $300 for the subscription model, that kind of thing, but you know, Blu-ray, blah blah blah, but the thing that interest me, going back and looking at some of the stuff I got a long time ago, it actually says ‘must be internet-connected to use’ in the notes. And that’s all I have, but it does say that.”

The Pushed Back Announcement:

“Originally, they were going to announce this thing in April 24, now they’re going to announce it May 21. We know there are events occuring this year where we’re going to learn more about Durango.”

Release Date & Pre-E3 Showings:

“Early November, yeah. E3 is going to occur. BUILD is going to occur in San Francisco in June when they’re going to talk about the developer story because it’s a Windows 8 device. It’s going to have the same, or basically the same, developer tools and developer APIs and all that kind of stuff. So I think there’s a lot information to come, but I look at all this stuff that I’ve seen about Durango and I think, ‘it’s all positive.’ I don’t really see any bad news here at all. Like to me, everything I’ve seen about this is really positive.”

“It’s amazing to me that, based on like no information at all, everyone is like freaking out about everything. Aside from this online thing, by the way, the number one question I’ve gotten from people is, ‘What does it look like?’ Who gives a shit what it looks like?”

“I’ve actually heard from, by the way not one or two people, several people who’ve said, ‘based on what I’ve seen, Sony is going to blow them away.’ Based on what you’ve seen? You’ve seen nothing. What are you talking about? No, but you’ve seen literally nothing from Microsoft.”

Microsoft’s New Approach:

“The problem Microsoft has has nothing to do with Sony or Nintendo anymore, it’s Roku and AppleTV. The market for hardcore video games, the market of people will always buy the next Gears of War game, the next Halo game, the next Call of Duty game, it’s fairly finite. It’s a decent market, yada yada yada, it’s not the market for tablets, it’s not the market for smartphones.”

In Summary:

So to wrap things up Paul Thurrott claims that the next Xbox is to be revealed on May 21st, 2013, will cost around $500 for the base model, will launch in November of this year & we’ll be most likely be hearing more and more about the console at upcoming video game & gaming conventions. What are your thoughts on this? Leave them in the comment section below…